Fighting Fake News with REAL, 3/1/24, Living Black, Nothing has changed, Who had No time for Aborigines, John Pilger, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Howard's Legacy, Denmark,

In 1983, there were 50 major corporations dominating the world’s media. By 2002, this had been reduced to nine. Rupert Murdoch says that eventually there will be three, including his own. If we accept this, media and information control will be the same, and we shall all be citizens of a murdochracy.

Rupert Murdoch began his empire. The voracious trail starts here. No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses. Across Australia, he owns almost 70 percent of the capital city press and the only national newspaper and Sky Television and much else. Welcome to the world’s first murdochracy. What is a murdochracy?

It is where the fealty and augmentation of Murdoch’s editors and managers are undisguised, an inspiration to his choir on seven continents, where even his competitors sing along, and wise politicians heed the Murdochism: “What’ll it be? A headline a day or a bucket of shit a day?”

Source: National Times – Nothing seems to have changed since John Pilger… | Facebook

 

Howard government worked with Canada to oppose UN declaration on Indigenous rights ( Daniel Hurst and The Guardian )

Cabinet papers from 2003 show the government pursued talks without consulting peak Indigenous body – which it then abolished.

The Howard government fought strongly against recognising the right of Indigenous peoples to “self-determination” and worked secretly with Canada to try to change a draft UN declaration, newly released cabinet papers show.

Source: National Times – A Racist Howard Government had no time for…Aborigines | Facebook

 

Whatever flaws there are in Pilger’s journalism, it feels dispiriting that on the first day of a new year clouded by wars, inaction on climate change and a presidential election in the US where democracy itself is on the ballot, the world has lost another resolutely dissenting voice in the media.

Source: The world has lost a dissenting voice: Australian journalist John Pilger has died, age 84

 

“They definitely exist. I promise. You’ll never find them of course, but they are absolutely, 100%, categorically there. Trust me”

John Howard Releases Map Showing Location of Missing Iraq War Cabinet Documents

 Howard's Legacy

 

The UN’s then secretary general, Kofi Annan, would later describe the US-led war on Iraq as “not in conformity with the UN charter” and “illegal” under international law.

 

"Cabinet papers published by the National Archives on Monday show the full cabinet signed off on the decision on 18 March 2003 based on “oral reports by the prime minister”.

The record of the cabinet’s decision contains no mention of any doubt about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s continued possession of weapons of mass destruction. This key justification for the war fell away after months of failed searches after the invasion.

“The cabinet further noted that Australia’s goal…

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Australia went to war in Iraq based on ‘oral reports’ to cabinet from John Howar